Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Perth Amboy Follies Continue

Derrick Kyriacou, district supervisor of language arts with principal certification, has been temporarily assigned as principal at the Dr. Herbert N. Richardson 21st Century School after five people were placed on leave, according to Acting Superintendent of Schools Dr. Vivian Rodriguez.

The Home News Tribune has confirmed that Richardson School Principal Alvaro Cores, who is new to the district, and the school’s vice principal have been placed on leave, along with three support staff members who do not have direct contact with students.

“We are unable to comment on personnel matters or the extent of any pending investigations at this time,” Rodriguez said.

The employment leaves come at the same time a police report about allegations at the Richardson School was filed by Rodriguez.

Deputy Police Chief Benjamin Ruiz said he received a report this week that deals with an incident from last December that he thought had been handled internally by the school district.

Ruiz said the report refers to allegations during Christmastime last year when someone at the school reportedly had a bottle or poster to sell a type of Latino egg nog during the holidays.

There have been rumors in the city that the holiday drink was sold to staff members and others in the community from the school.

Ruiz said there is no proof the bottle contained alcohol. He said a lot of people get the egg nog without alcohol. He said there was no indication someone was intoxicated.

Having a bottle with alcohol would not constitute a crime, but it could violate school policy, he said.

“My understanding was the allegation was brought to light and it was handled internally,” Ruiz said. “There is not sufficient information available to go beyond handling it internally,” Ruiz said. “We notified (the superintendent) it is not a criminal matter and to check their own files.”

Any internal action would have been handled by then-Superintendent of Schools Dr. Janine Walker Caffrey, who last week was placed on immediate paid administrative leave by the Board of Education during a special meeting. [emphasis mine]

I'd like to point out that under TEACHNJ, this principal would have had the power to turn down any teacher appointed from the district office, not matter how qualified that teacher may be. Also, teacher evaluations by this principal that lead to tenure removal for teachers would not be subject to appeal. Everybody good with that?

ADDING: I'm not being clear here. I have no idea what happened. That's the point: you investigate this stuff, make your charges, bring them through due process, and act on the results. That's the way things should work.

Caffrey's whine was she couldn't get rid of all the "bad" teachers she was allegedly saddled with because tenure is so hard and takes time and you have to like, you know, come up with proof and stuff. Well, her replacement wasted little time taking action until due process could be implemented. What's the problem? Looks to me like it's pretty easy to remove who you need to remove until charges can be proven. Why didn't Caffrey do that?

Why do we have to upend the entire tenure process when you can remove people under the current system with little difficulty?